This will be a rather lengthy blog entry due to the large number of images of this undescribed Trillium species. So sit back and enjoy…

In late February, my friend James Van Horne from Kennesaw, Georgia messaged me and asked if I would be interested in joining a small group to look for an undescribed Trillium species in Elbert County, Georgia. He said that two other friends from Atlanta, Georgia would be going, as well. Those two are Alan Cressler and Steve Bowling. Of course, I said “YES!”. We agreed on a place to meet in Georgia near the Trillium location, and I began making preparations for the trip.

On Sunday, March 5, I packed all my camera gear and drove to the agreed location. It was really good to see those guys again, because it had been months since our last mutual field trip. We made our circuitous drive to a spot next to a large river in Elbert County, Georgia. Alan and I had been to this site In the early summer about a year ago, but we didn’t realize that there were Trillium plants there because they had died back for the season.

Upon reaching the site, almost immediately we began to see the plants in singles and small groups all along the road and stretching into the woods. We wasted no time in getting our camera gear and inspecting the population to find the best plants to photograph. As it turns out, this undescribed species is more variable that any other Trillium species I’ve ever photographed. The range of color forms and petal size and shape is mind-boggling. It’s almost like the entire population is made up of hybrid crosses of other Trillium species. This is probably not the case, because we did not find any identifiable pure species in the area. Here is an image of one of the more unusual flowers we saw in this population: